Thursday, April 7, 2011

1974: What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits (#4)1975: Stampede (#4)1976: Takin' It to the Streets (#8)1977: Livin' on the Fault Line (#10)1978: Minute By Minute (#1)--Easily their best studio albumThe group switches sounds with Michael McDonald

Live Albums:1983: Farewell Tour (#79)1996: Rockin' Down the Highway: The Wildlife Concert1999: Best of the Doobie Brothers Live2004: Live At Wolf Trap

Compilations:1976: Best of the Doobies (#5), a must-have1981: Best of the Doobies, Volume II (#39), also good to be a companion to the first one1993: Listen to the Music: The Very Best of the Doobie Brothers1999: Long Train Runnin': 1970-20002001: Greatest Hits (#142)2002: Doobies Choice2003: Divided Highway2007: The Very Best of the Doobie Brothers

If you're in Liverpool, England for the Beatles tour (and what serious music fan wouldn't be at some point?), be sure to include a stop at the Casbah.The Casbah Coffee Club provided a venue for early rock performers, including the group that would change music forever. The Beatles even helped decorate the basement to ready the place for its opening.

Mona Best was the owner of the Casbah, who purchased everything for her business with money won from betting on a 33-1 Derby longshot named "Never Say Die". The group then known as the Quarrymen signed a deal to play at the Club for 15 shillings each from opening night (August 29) to October of 1959. After their first show, it was apparent to Mona that this was a group to sign for a longer deal--lines formed well out into the street to get into the Club to see the group. In those early days, the Quarrymen had just one microphone and no amps--John Lennon soon asked Mona to hire an amateur guitar player to open for them, if for no other reason so that the group could use his 40-watt amplifier! The Quarrymen at the time were Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ken Brown, four guitar players and no drummer.

Many historical things happened at the club that are important to every person who is a fan of rock & roll, besides being the place where the group that would become the Beatles first performed. The Casbah also featured performances by the Searchers and Gerry and the Pacemakers, among others. It was at the Club where a management agreement was signed by Brian Epstein to manage the Beatles in December of 1961. Mona's son was Pete Best, who had become interested in playing the drums. Mona bought him a new drum kit and Best formed his own group, the Black Jacks. Well, it didn't take long before the group without a drummer and the drummer who was the son of the Casbah's owner to hook up.

The Quarrymen served customers from behind the bar in addition to playing sets. To every rock fan's delight, the Casbah Coffee Club has been remodeled to look as it did in the early days. Instruments, posters, microphones and amps, along with the silver stars painted on the ceiling by John, Paul, George and Pete remain to this day. The Club is 3.5 miles from the Liverpool City Center. The address is 8 Haymans Green in West Derby, Liverpool. The only way to tour the Casbah is by reserving in advance, and it is recommended that you do so well in advance of your visit. Tours are available 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridayas and Saturdays. The tour lasts approximately one hour and costs 15 Euros. E-mail the Casbah at:

“I think it’s a good idea to let people know about the Casbah. They know about the Cavern, they know about some of those things, but the Casbah was the place where all that started. We helped paint it and stuff. We looked upon it as our personal club.”Sir Paul McCartney

Occasionally, I will run across people who say "That's not rock & roll-that's pop!" or something along those lines. You probably have too. Those people have no idea what "rock & roll" is. As you can tell from the story I did about Alan Freed, rock & roll was born out of rhythm and blues music, and as Freed says, it is made up of many parts including country and R&B. Go back and listen to Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bill Haley and Pat Boone--that is what is properly defined as "rock and roll". What has transpired since is the genre spreading out into different areas, such as country rock, disco, rap, hard rock and heavy metal, to name just a few elements.

It's all rock and roll music; rock music is a very all-encompassing term, and to confuse it with pop is getting your definitions mixed up. "Pop", as referred to in that instance, is short for "Popular", which means that it is the dominant style of music. If rock and roll is the dominant type of music, then it can be both "pop" and "rock and roll". And again, "Pop" doesn't have a specific sound, either in the past, now or the future. Musical tastes change constantly, and what is popular today may not be in the future. In the Rock & Roll Era (1955-present), pop and rock have become synonymous, since rock music has dominated the scene for longer than any type of music since classical music.

But to say that a popular song is not rock & roll shows limited understanding of both music and popular history. A song by, say Madonna or the Beach Boys sounds much more like rock and roll as it is defined by its beginnings than a song by, say Metallica or AC/DC. The music has evolved to a point where most of it sounds very little like true "rock and roll" and therein lies the confusion in people's minds that have the misconception about what rock and roll is. Those latter groups fall under the heavy metal portion of rock music, but obviously sound much different than the early rock records.

So next time you hear someone say that a rock and roll song is a "Pop" song, set that person straight.

Alan Freed was instrumental to the beginning of rock and roll music, helping to promote the music in a series of concerts around the country and in fact the phrase "rock and roll" is attributed to him. He also helped segregate the youth if America by playing music by black artists and featuring groups in his concert series that attracted diverse groups. In the movie Rock, Rock, Rock Freed said that "Rock and roll is a river of music that has absorbed many streams: rhythm and blues, jazz, rag time, cowboy songs, country songs, folk songs. All have contributed to the big beat."Freed was born December 15, 1921 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Ohio and he graduated from Salem High School in 1940. While at Ohio State, Freed became interested in radio and when he served in World War II, he worked as a disc jockey on Armed Forces Radio. Following his service, he worked at WKST in New Castle, Pennsylvania, WKBN in Youngstown, Ohio and WAKR in Akron, Ohio.When Freed got a job in 1960 playing classical music on WJW in Cleveland, Leo Mintz, owner of Record Rendezvous, inquired about purchasing airtime on WJW to be devoted exclusively to playing R&B songs with Freed as the host. The station management agreed and on July 21, 1951, Freed began his show "The Moondog House". The next year, Freed helped organize "The Moondog Coronation Ball" on March 21, 1952 at the Cleveland Arena, which is believed to be the first rock and roll concert. The concerts that Freed organized attracted crowds that far exceeded the capacity of the venues. WJW increased the air time of Freed's show and his popularity increased dramatically. Executives in the music business noticed and soon, tapes of Freed's Cleveland show began to air in New York City.

In 1954, Freed got a job offer at WINS and moved to New York as that station became a 24-hour rock and roll station. Freed introduced himself to European audiences through appearances in movies such as Rock Around the Clock. He soon began recording a weekly half-hour show called Jamboree that would air on Radio Luxembourg, heard throughout the British Isles and much of Europe. Radio Luxembourg's signal was strong in Liverpool, and reportedly John Lennon and Paul McCartney were influenced by artists such as Little Richard and Chuck Berry that they would hear on Freed's radio program. Luxembourg's signal was the only commercial radio station heard in England until 1964.

Freed worked a brief stint at WABC 770 AM in New York (until 1958), the beginnings of WABC's evolution into becoming one of America's greatest Top 40 stations. Freed was fired amidst the infamous payola scandal in which he refused to sign a document that he had never accepted payola (money or inducements in return for playing a particular song). That practice continues to this day in various forms...

Freed appeared in several movies as well such as the aforementioned "Rock, Rock, Rock" and "Rock Around the Clock" starring Bill Haley & the Comets. He hosted "The Big Beat" on ABC-TV in 1957 or a brief time, and appeared on the show "To Tell the Truth", where he defended rock and roll before the panelists who preferred swing music.

Freed's career ended when it was confirmed that had had in fact accepted payola. He also had a conflict of interest, being a songwriter on several songs that allowed him to receive royalties while also promoting those records on his own program. He worked at some stations after this, such as KDAY-AM in Santa Monica, California and WQAM in Miami, Florida, but those stations did not allow him to promote rock and roll stage shows.

Freed died in Palm Springs, California in 1965 from problems brought on by alcoholism. On January 23, 1986, Freed was among the first group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It had been built in Cleveland to recognize Freed's early involvement there in promoting rock and roll. Freed was also posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988, and has since been honored in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and by the Grammy Awards with their Trustees Award.

You can find much more about Freed (including a complete biography and tons of invaluable audio clips (including an interview with Buddy Holly and videos of his movies) on the site dedicated to him, alanfreed.com.

1956: Columbia Records announced that all future record releases would be at 45 R.P.M.1956: The Platters made their television debut on Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey's Stage Show on CBS.1956: CBS Radio Network premiered the first scheduled national radio program of exclusively rock & roll music, Alan Freed's "Rock 'n" Roll Dance Party".1958: Alan Freed's "Big Beat Show", a concert featuring rock performers, would feature two shows at Memorial Hall in Canton, Ohio. Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Frankie Lymon, the Diamonds, Billy Ford, the Chantels, Screaming Jay Hawkins, the Pastels and Larry Williams were on the bill. The great group the Platters1958: The Platters released "Twilight Time".1959: Marty Robbins recorded "El Paso".1962: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met Brian Jones for the first time at the Ealing Jazz Club in England. At the time, Jones was called Elmo Lewis and was playing guitar with Paul Jones.

1962: The Beatles played at the Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool, England. The group played without guitarist George Harrison who was ill. This was the Beatles' finale at the Casbah before returning to Hamburg, West Germany for a third engagement.1962: Sam Cooke remained atop the R&B chart for a third week with "Twistin' the Night Away".1962: Shelley Fabares moved to #1 with "Johnny Angel" as former #1 "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You" from Connie Francis slipped. Elvis Presley's "Good Luck Charm" moved from 9 to 4. 1963: The Beatles performed at the Savoy Ballroom in Portsmouth, England.1966: The Beatles worked on overdubs for the track "Tomorrow Never Knows" and on a new McCartney-penned song, "Got To Get You Into My Life" for the upcoming Revolver album.

1967: Pink Floyd appeared at the Floral Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland.1967: The movie Good Times, starring Sonny & Cher, opened in theaters.1968: The Who played at the CNE Coliseum in Toronto, Canada.1969: John Lennon recorded "Give Peace a Chance" in his Toronto hotel room. The song lives on to this day.

1969: Simon & Garfunkel released the single "The Boxer".

1969: Mercy released the single "Love (Can Make You Happy)".1970: "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" (from the movie Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid won Best Original Song at the Academy Awards.1972: Grateful Dead was at the Empire Pool in London, England..

What's really sad is that African-Americans insist on doing rap music rather than contribute great songs like this one from Gladys Knight & the Pips.1973: Gladys Knight & the Pips had the top R&B song for a fourth week with the excellent "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye".1973: Tony Orlando & Dawn reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart on this date with "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree".1973: Diana Ross had the top album with Lady Sings the Blues. The only new album in the Top 10 was the new Pink Floyd release, The Dark Side of the Moon, which jumped from #27 to #9.

1973: The new Billboard Hot 100 chart came out on this day and Vicki Lawrence led everyone on top the singles chart with "The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia". Lawrence vaulted from 10 to 1, the seventh-biggest jump to #1 of the Rock Era. The rest of the top five--#2 "Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be the First To Say Goodbye) by Gladys Knight & the Pips, #3 "Killing Me Softly With His Song by Roberta Flack (the former #1), "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got" by the Four Tops, and "Break Up To Make Up" by the great soul group the Stylistics.1975: Stevie Wonder and his wife celebrated the birth of daughter Aisha. She's the one heard crying at the opening of Stevie's song "Isn't She Lovely".

1975: Linda Ronstadt released her remake of the Everly Brothers hit "When Will I Be Loved".1975: Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple to form the group Rainbow. Tommy Bolin replaced Blackmore in Deep Purple.1979: Aerosmith, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, the Boomtown Rats and Ted Nugent performed at the California Music Festival.

1979: Orleans had one of the hottest new songs on the radio as "Love Takes Time" moved from 69 to 35.1979: The new Top 100 singles chart came out on this day; the top five: #1 "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, #2 "What A Fool Believes" by the Doobie Brothers, which was on its way to #1, #3 "Tragedy" by the Bee Gees, a former #1, the debut release from Dire Straits "Sultans of Swing" was #4, and #5 "Shake Your Groove Thing" by Peaches & Herb.1979: "Crazy Love" by Poco topped the Adult Contemporary chart, where it would spend seven weeks at #1.1979: The Doobie Brothers scored their first and only #1 album Minute By Minute. Spirits Having Flown from the Bee Gees fell to #2 with the tasty Dire Straits debut third. Love Tracks from Gloria Gaynor preceded the latest from Rod Stewart, Blondes Have More Fun. The rest of the Top 10: 2 (sic) Hot! by Peaches & Herb, 52nd Street from Billy Joel, George Benson moved to #8 with Livin' Inside Your Love, Bad Company vaulted from 30 to 9 with Desolation Angels and the Allman Brothers Band moved to 10 with Enlightened Rouges.

1980: Robbie Dupree released the single "Steal Away".1981: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band began their first major tour outside the U.S. in Hamburg, Germany.1981: Kit Lambert, the 60's manager of the Who, died on this date of a cerebral hemorrhage resulting from a fall down a flight of stairs at his mother's home in London. Lambert produced the Tommy album and Arthur Brown's 1968 hit "Fire".1984: "Hello" by Lionel Richie moved to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

1984: The Scorpions had the fastest-rising song on this date as "Rock You Like a Hurricane" moved from 76 to 58.1984: A record 40 British artists were on the U.S. Top 100 singles chart that came out on this date. The top five: #1 "Footloose" by Kenny Loggins, #2 "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell with help from Michael Jackson, #3 Against All Odds by Phil Collins (which would soon hit #1), #4 "Here Comes The Rain Again" by the Eurythmics and #5 "Jump" by the Pointer Sisters.1984: Thriller by Michael Jackson spent a 36th week at #1 on the album chart. 1985: Wham! became the first western rock group to perform live in China, appearing at the workers gymnasium in Beijing. Several solo performers had played China before.1985: Prince wrapped up his 32-city tour in Miami, Florida by announcing he would cease touring for "an indeterminate number of years".1988: Alice Cooper accidentally hung himself for several seconds during a European tour when a safety rope broke. As luck would have it, a roadie saved his life.1990: Elton John, Neil Young, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Guns N' Roses and Jackson Browne performed at Farm Aid IV at the Indiana Hoosierdome to benefit America's farmers.1990: Only Yesterday by the Carpenters climbed to the top of the UK album chart. The compilation album hit #1 seven years after the death of Karen Carpenter.1990: Bonnie Raitt had the biggest hit of her life with the album Nick of Time, which rose to #1.1990: Taylor Dayne had the #1 hit "Love Will Lead You Back" (written by Dianne Warren). Tommy Page's "I'll Be Your Everything" was #2, followed by #3 "All Around the World" by Lisa Stansfield, #4 "I Wish It Would Rain Down" by Phil Collins and #5 was the former #1 song "Black Velvet" by Canada's Alannah Myles.1990: Taylor Dayne had the top Adult Contemporary hit for a third week with "Love Will Lead You Back".1994: Lee Brilleaux, lead singer and harmonica player with Dr. Feelgood, died of throat cancer.1994: Courtney Love was arrested on drugs and theft charges, not aware at the time that her husband Kurt Cobain had committed suicide and lay dead at their home. Cobain's body wasn't discovered until April 8.1994: Percy Sledge plead guilty to tax evasion for failing to report $260,000 in income earned between 1987 and 1989. Sledge was ordered to serve six months in a halfway house.1996: Take That topped the UK album chart with their Greatest Hits package.1997: The Chemical Brothers released the album Dig Your Hole.1997: Liam Gallagher of Oasis married Patsy Kensit at the Marylebone Registry office in London.2000: Heinz Burt, bass player and vocalist with the Tornadoes, died at the age of 57. The group scored a #1 song with one of the top instrumentals of all-time "Telstar". Burt also had a solo hit with a tribute to Eddie Cochran "Just Like Eddie" that featured Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.2001: Paul McCartney bought the Beverly Hills home of Courtney Love for $3.995 million.2002: Gareth Gates, who was runner-up at the UK Pop Idol contest, hit #1 with his cover of "Unchained Melody", making him the seventh artist to have a hit with the Righteous Brother classic.

2002: Celine Dion had a huge #1 album with A New Day Has Come.2003: Jury selection began in a wrongful death suit against Tommy Lee of Motley Crue following the 2001 drowning death of a boy at a pool party.2003: Bass guitarist Dirk Lance, a founding member of Incubus, left the band.2004: Janet Jackson debuted at #2 with the album Damito Jo.2004: More trouble for Motley Crue as Vince Neil was charged with a misdemeanor of battery after a fight on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.2008: Olivia Newton-John set out on a 21-day, 141-mile walk along the entire length of the Great Wall of China to raise money for breast cancer research.2008: Bob Dylan received a Pulitzer Prize for his impact on music and culture.

2010: Bobby Rydell had major shoulder surgery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after slipping on hail after a concert in Oregon four days earlier.2013: Andy Johns, noted producer and engineer, who worked with the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, the Steve Miller Band, Jethro Tull, Free, Cinderella, Ten Years After, Humble Pie and Joe Satriani, died at the age of 71 in Los Angeles from complications of a stomach ulcer.

Born This Day:1908: Percy Faith ("Theme from 'A Summer Place'") was born on Toronto, Ontario, Canada; died on cancer February 9, 1976 in Encino, California.1917: Mongo Satamaria, who gave us one of The Top 100 Instrumentals of the Rock Era ("Watermelon Man"), was born in Havana, Cuba; died February 1, 2003 in Miami, Florida.1920: Ravi Shankar (Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury), sitar player who worked with George Harrison and performed at both Woodstock and the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, and was the father of singer Norah Jones, was born in Varanasi, United Privinces, Indian Empire; died December 11, 2012 in San Diego, California.1935: Bobby Bare ("All-American Boy" and "500 Miles from Home") was born in Ironton, Ohio.1937: Charlie Thomas of the Drifters was born in Lynchburg, Virginia.1938: Spencer Dryden, drummer of Jefferson Airplane. Dryden, was born in New York City; died of cancer January 11, 20051943: Alan Buck, drummer of the Four Pennies ("Juliet" in 1964), was born in Brierfield, Burnley, England.1943: Mick Abrahams, guitarist of Blodwyn Pig and Jethro Tull, was born in Bedfordshire, England.1946: Bill Kreutzmann, drummer of Grateful Dead, was born in Palo Alto, California.1947: Florian Schneider-Esleben of Kraftwerk, who scored their biggest hit with "Autobahn" in 19751947: Patricia Bennett, original member of the Chiffons, was born in The Bronx, New York.1948: Carol Douglas of the Chantels1949: John Oates, singer, songwriter and producer of Hall and Oates, was born in New York City.1951: Janis Ian ("Society's Child" and "At Seventeen") was born in New York City.1952: Bruce Gary, drummer of the Knack ("My Sharona"), was born in Burbank, California; died August 22, 2006 of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Tarzana, California.

"Louie, Louie" was first recorded by Richard Berry and his backing band the Pharoahs. The song became a regional hit on the west coast. The song was recorded by the Kingsmen and Paul Revere and the Raiders at the same Portland, Oregon recording studio. Kingsmen lead singer Jack Ely, at one point in the song, comes in too early before the restatement of the riff. The rest of the band didn't realize his mistake and Ely stopped. But the band kept playing and recorded the song in one take. The lyrics are also slurred in the song and the production is substandard. The Raiders' version is much smoother, doesn't contain the singing error, and is better produced. Because of these advantages, the Raiders' version quickly shot up to #1 in Portland, San Francisco, Hawai'i and all over the West. It would have been the much-bigger national hit but, as we found out later, the man in charge of promoting the song at Columbia Records didn't like rock & roll (?!--he sure was in the wrong business, wasn't he?) and pulled the song, stopping it short of going national. No matter how familiar, no matter how many times you've heard the Kingsmen's version, trust me, the one by Paul Revere & the Raiders is much, much better.

It is now believed that "Louie, Louie" has taken over from "Yesterday" as the most recorded song in rock history as over 1,500 different artists have now recorded their version. Below, just a sample of the many diverse acts that have jumped on the Louie, Louie bandwagon.

Since today (April 6) is the anniversary of the beginning of construction on the Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, it's a fine time to look into a little history at Capitol.

The Tower itself is quite unique and every music fan will want to at least get a peak of it if you're in the L.A. area. From above, it looks like a stack of 45's on a turntable, with the tall spike at the top looking like a spindle. In 1955, EMI acquired Capitol Records and ordered the Tower built at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine. All West Coast operations of Capitol are conducted from that site. A rectangular ground floor is a separate structure that was joined to the famous tower when completed. The Tower itself is a 13-story building that is resistant to earthquakes and is home to several recording studios. The blinking light atop the tower spells out the word "Hollywood" in Morse code. In fact, the switch activating the light was first thrown by Lyla Morse, Samuel Morse's granddaughter.

In 2006, EMI announced it had sold the tower to a New York-based developer. Unbelievable. And soon the building of the record company that released the Beatles records will probably be torn down, knowing America.

There aren't too many artists who can rattle off six consecutive #1 albums. Elton John did (7 if you count his Greatest Hits album released in 1974), beginning with Honky Chateau in 1972 through Rock of the Westies in 1975. The best of those are Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
1969: Empty Sky (#6)
1970: Elton John (#4)Tumbleweed Connection (#5)
1971: Friends Soundtrack (#36)Madman Across the Water (#8)
1972: Honky Chateau (#1)
1973: Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player (#1)Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (#1)
1974: Caribou (#1)
1975: Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (#1)Rock of the Westies (#1)
1976: Blue Moves (#3)
1978: A Single Man (#15)
1979: Victim of Love (#35)

Compilations:
1974: Elton John's Greatest Hits (#1) One good way to get his greatest hits is to buy this one, Volume II below and Volume 3. That would be cheating yourself out of some great music, especially from the early to mid-70's. Hopefully there will eventually be a boxed set.
1977: Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume II (#21)
1980: Lady Samantha The Very Best of Elton John
1982: Love Songs
1985: Your Songs
1987: Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume III
1990: To Be Continued... (#82) The Very Best of Elton John Greatest Hits 1976-1986
1996: Love Songs (#24)
2005: Elton John's Christmas Party
2007: Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits (#9)

1956: Capitol Tower, the home of Capitol Records, was dedicated in Los Angeles, California. The iconic building was the first circular building (13 stories and 92 feet in diameter) in America.

1957: Elvis Presley released the single "All Shook Up".1957: Fats Domino held off the competition to remain at #1 for a third week on the R&B chart with "I'm Walkin'". The Fleetwoods

1959: "Venus" by Frankie Avalon was #1 for a fifth consecutive week. The Fleetwoods were second with "Come Softly to Me" while Brook Benton's crossover hit "It's Just a Matter of Time" grabbed the #3 spot.1960: The Every Brothers and the Crickets began their first tour of the U.K. at London's New Victoria Theatre.1962: The Russian newspaper Pravda warned youth about the dangers of twisting (Chubby Checker had just released a smash hit about the dance "The Twist".)1963: The great Motown group Martha & the Vandellas were a brand new act on this date. Although most wouldn't know them until a bit later, their first single, "Come and Get These Memories", debuted on the chart.

1963: The Kingsmen released their version of "Louie, Louie".1963: Skeeter Davis had the top Easy Listening song for a third week with "The End of the World".1963: The Chiffons took over at #1 on the R&B chart with "He's So Fine".

1965: The Beach Boys recorded "California Girls".1966: The first studio session for the Beatles' album Revolver began at Abbey Road studios in London as the group recorded "Tomorrow Never Knows".1967: The first master tape of the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was made. The Beatles were insistent that there be no gaps between tracks, a revolutionary idea at the time.1968: Cliff Richard's song "Congratulations" finished second at the Eurovision Song Contest at the Royal Albert Hall in London.1968: Pink Floyd made the announcement that group founder Syd Barrett was leaving the group. Barrett's drug use had caused him to suffer from psychiatric disorders.1968: Apple Records, the new Beatles record company, opened in London.

1968: Simon and Garfunkel reached #1 on the album chart with "The Graduate" Soundtrack.1968: Paul Mauriat was #1 on the Adult chart for an eighth week with "Love Is Blue".

One of the great voices of the Rock Era...

1968: The late Otis Redding remained at #1 for the fourth week with "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay". Gary Puckett, from Twin Falls, Idaho, and the Union Gap moved nicely from 7 to 2 with "Young Girl". The Monkees were next with "Valleri" and the Delfonics climbed to 4 with "La - La - Means I Love You". The rest of the Top 10: Aretha Franklin and "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone", the Box Tops exploded from 15 to 6 with "Cry Like a Baby", the Beatles were up with "Lady Madonna", Georgie Fame and "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde", Paul Mauriat's #1 smash was finally down and Bobby Goldsboro moved from 23-10 with "Honey".1971: Carly Simon met James Taylor after her concert at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. The two married November 3, 1972.1971: The Rolling Stones launched their own record label, Rolling Stones Records, albeit three years after the Beatles did.1971: Pete Quaife announced he was leaving the Kinks.1974: Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones opened at Ziegfield Theater in New York City. It was the first concert movie to feature quadrophonic sound.

1974: ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo".1974: Gladys Knight & the Pips moved to #1 on the R&B chart with "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me".

The incomparable Joni Mitchell...

1974: John Denver's Greatest Hits was #1 again on the album chart, holding off Band on the Run from Paul McCartney & Wings and Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark.1974: The Stylistics were hot with their new song--"You Make Me Feel Brand New" rose from 70 to 48.

1974: Billy Joel had his first Top 40 hit with "Piano Man".

1974: Blue Swede grabbed #1 with their remake of "Hooked on a Feeling". Elton John moved to challenge with "Bennie and the Jets" and John Denver's #1--"Sunshine on My Shoulders" fell to #3. Terry Jacks' former #1 "Seasons in the Sun" was ahead of Sister Janet Mead's "The Lord's Prayer" and "Come and Get Your Love" from Redbone. The rest of the Top 10: Cher with "Dark Lady", MFSB with the Three Degrees moved from 12 to 8 with "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)", Carly Simon & James Taylor with "Mockingbird" and Gladys Knight & the Pips entered the list with "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me".1974: California Jam 1 Festival took place in Ontario, California. The Eagles, Earth, Wind & Fire, Seals & Crofts, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Black Oak Arkansas were some of the performers. The Festival attracted over 400,000 fans.1979: Rod Stewart married Alana Hamilton in Beverly Hills, California.1984: Thomas Dolby ("She Blinded Me With Science") made his first concert appearance at Poughkeepsie, New York.1985: Gilbert O'Sullivan won a lawsuit against former manager Gordon Mills for unpaid royalties and was awarded $2 million.1985: Miami Steve Van Zandt left Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, replaced by Nils Lofgrin.1985: Paul Young earned his second #1 album in the U.K. with The Secret of Association featuring the song "Everytime You Go Away".1985: The Commodores worked the "Nightshift" to #1 for a fourth week on the R&B chart.1987: Roger Waters' attorneys released a statement saying that Roger believed he was the driving force behind Pink Floyd and that he would contest the use of the name by anyone else, including former band members.1990: Tommy Lee of Motley Crue gave himself a concussion after falling from his elevated drum kit in New Haven, Connecticut. Lee had been dangling from the scaffolding prior to the fall.

"Nothing's Changed" from Chris Isaak...

1991: The self-titled Mariah Carey was #1 on the album chart for a sixth week. Gonna' Make You Sweat by C&C Music Factory was second with the great debut from Wilson Phillips third after 53 weeks of release. Shake Your Money Maker by the Black Crowes was fourth, while R.E.M. bounded from 16 to 5 in their third week with Out of Time. The rest of the Top 10: Sting with The Soul Cages, Chris Isaak's excellent Heart Shaped World, "The Doors" Soundtrack, Vanilla Ice with To the Extreme and Gloria Estefan had #10 with Into the Light.1992: George Harrison played his first full concert since prior to the Beatles' breakup to benefit the Natural Law Party.1996: The Beatles' album Anthology 2 reached #1 on the album chart, 26 years after the famous group's breakup. The Tony Rich Project with their huge hit...

1996: Celine Dion remained at #1 for a third week with "Because You Loved Me". Mariah Carey debuted at #2 with "Always Be My Baby" while the Tony Rich Project were still at #3 after 17 weeks of release with "Nobody Knows".1998: Dick Clark, Chubby Checker, Lesley Gore and Fabian appeared on the television show Murphy Brown.1999: Tipper Gore played congas with Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart at a fund-raiser for her husband and presidential candidate Al Gore.2000: A tribute to Joni Mitchell was given at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Elton John, Bryan Adams, James Taylor, Shawn Colvin and Cyndi Lauper were among the performers.

2003: White Stripes held down #1 on the U.K. album chart with Elephant.

"Numb" from Linkin Park...

2003: Linkin Park reached #1 on the US album chart with Meteroa, the band's debut album.2003: K-Ci & Jojo were released from prison in North Carolina after being held for tax evasion.2003: Avril Lavigne won four Juno Awards including Album of the Year and Best New Artist of the Year. Shania Twain won three statues including Best Artist of the Year.2004: Niki Sullivan, singer and guitarist, died of a heart attack at his home in Independence, Missouri at the age of 66. Sullivan was one of the original members of Buddy Holly's group the Crickets.

2008: R.E.M. was back on top of the U.K. album chart with Accelerate.Born This Day:1947: Tony Connor of Hot Chocolate1951: Ralph Cooper, drummer for Air Supply1962: Stan Cullimore of Housemartins (#1 UK hit "Caravan of Love"), was born in Hull, England.

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I worked at KFXD-AM & FM in Boise, Idaho for 10 years, serving as Research Director, Music Director and Sports Director among other things. During this time, I researched, organized and produced several music specials including The Top 500 Songs of All-Time and The Top 100 Artists of the Rock Era.